Man, this chapter was a hard one to write! I have a good beginning and end, and this is the uninspired middle. Enjoy!

LOST AND FOUND

CHAPTER FOUR

Disclaimer: I do not own CSI or the CSI characters. Sadly.

Catherine was sitting, confused, in Grissom's office helping him with paperwork. She was worried about Lindsey and what her daughter thought of her. She gave a damn. She did. But that little girl had things to say, and found someone she trusted more than her mother. Catherine didn't want to believe it, or think of it at all at this point. She sighed. Grissom looked up.

"Don't worry about Lindsey, Catherine…" He said, reading her mind.

"I'm not worried about her. I am worried about who I am to her…" Catherine replied. "I'm not the one she goes to for help, or to talk," she said.

"You're right." Grissom said, pausing to write something. "She goes to Rachel," he continued. Seeing Catherine's look of agony, he went on; "it's her choice, Catherine, and if she needs a kid she can relate to, she needs a kid she can relate to…" he explained. Catherine said nothing, and they both continued working.

Lindsey was sitting outside the crime lab, on the curb, her head in her hands staring into the unknown. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks and broke at her fingers. Nick sat down beside her.

"It was really brave of you to tell us those things," he said. Lindsey avoided his look, and made a purpose of avoiding conversation as long as possible. Nick followed suit, and stared into nowhere. They sat there for a while, listening to whatever made noise.

"I didn't mean to make her angry… I didn't want to hurt her…" Lindsey finally said, turning to Nick. "Rachel said that all the truth ever did was hurt her. And now I believe it," Lindsey said, crying all over again. Nick took a deep breath of understanding and tried to think of something he could say to her.

"The truth hurts, Linds… I mean… it may sound cheesy… but it does." Nick started. "And keeping it bottled up inside just makes it worse. It eats at you… until you tell someone. Rachel needed to tell someone, and it was you," Nick said, gesturing to her. "You were someone she trusted, and to be that person she held close to her heart is something you should be proud of. It doesn't make you a bad person to make mistakes, tell too much… but something she did, Lindsey, triggered something inside of you to tell her the truth about your past too." Nick said, amazed he pulled off such a speech. Silent tears ran down the girl's cheeks, and she pleadingly looked at him, subconsciously saying 'thank you'.

"Greggo!" Warrick exclaimed as he entered the break room to find him indulged in a surf magazine. Greg put his hand up to indicate he was busy reading. A moment later, he looked up.

"Yes?" He said, excited for what Warrick had to say.

"I have George's truck in the garage… and I need someone to help me prove Rachel was taken by force…" He hinted.

"Let's go!" Greg replied excitedly, as he jumped up. They headed for the garage.

At the hospital, Rachel's tests had come back early and the nurse informed Sara that indeed Rachel had hemophilia type A. Despite that, the girl was in immaculate condition and had quickly recovered. She was to be discharged within the hour. In good spirits, Sara called Grissom to let him know she was bringing Rachel in for an interrogation.

"All there is back here is blood!" Called Greg from the backseat, searching for something else in the folds of the upholstery.

"Look harder, Greggo… we need something to prove she was tied up or restrained, or taken against her will…" Warrick explained while he searched the trunk over and over. "Otherwise it's just a girl who argued with her dad and got a cut…" He continued. Greg looked at him in disbelief, and back at the blood that covered the backseat.

"This isn't just a cut, man." Greg contemplated. He saw something shiny stuck in the seatbelt buckle. "Oh, take a look, take a look!" Greg celebrated, as he carefully extracted what turned out to be a bracelet, covered in fresh blood. Warrick came around to examine it.

"The clasp is torn right off…" Warrick observed. He took it from Greg. "R-D-S" he read. "R-D-S? Someone's initials? They aren't… Rachel's… are they?" He pondered. Greg shrugged.

"Is that good enough?" Greg asked impatiently, "Does that prove she was taken by force?"

"It proves R-D-S was taken by force," Warrick said. "Weather or not it's Rachel is another story... Sara photo-documented the girl's injuries, we should take a look at those for comparison," He said. "Good job Greggo," Warrick congratulated, punching him playfully on the shoulder as he left.

"When we get back to the lab, you're going to need to tell us exactly what happened, and how you got each one of your injuries…" Sara explained to Rachel, who listened nervously. Sara was trying to figure out the nicest way to ask about Rachel's parents and San Francisco. She needed to pry. The most important secrets hurt the most and Sara knew that. These secrets needed to be told.

"I'm not going to have to talk to Pauline am I? Or George?" Asked Rachel.

"Not if you don't want to." Sara replied. "Rachel…" Sara said, wanting to ask, but simultaneously wanting to shut up. Rachel looked at her. "You usually call your parents by their names? Or is that just because of what happened?" Sara asked, making it seem like she already knew what she was talking about. Rachel stared at her for an instant.

"I call my parents 'mom' and 'dad'." Rachel stated. "I call Pauline and George just that," she said abruptly. She was nervous because she didn't know how much this stranger knew about her and wasn't about to shout it out.

"I was under the impression Pauline and George were your parents," Sara said.

"They aren't." Rachel responded. She looked out her window. Sara took a deep breath, she wanted to know more and Rachel sensed it. "I don't like talking about this…" the girl said.

" Sometimes the things we don't want to talk about are the most important for us to say…" Sara said, feeling wise. "Telling someone isn't a sign of weakness… believe me, I learned the hard way."

"Believe you?" Rachel questioned. "I learned the hard way too. I learned not to believe people who say just that." She said. "It did nothing but hurt me."

"You can choose weather or not to believe me, but it's not me who kidnapped you, Rachel. People you should have been able to trust made you doubt them… I don't care if you choose to believe me, or, if you think it's all bull, but I'll tell you honestly and I'll tell you once… I was you, Rachel… I do know how you feel right now. I've been there." Sara said, getting frustrated and angry. She didn't like kids, except she felt a sub-conscious connection with Rachel and knew she understood where she was coming from. Rachel said nothing. Her eyes got glossy but she suppressed any tears.

"Sorry." Rachel whispered. Sara barely caught it, but then suddenly felt bad about what she said. She hoped it triggered a will to say more in the interview.

Catherine and Grissom were just finishing off the paperwork. He had one last evaluation to go over before the interrogation.

"I guess…" Catherine started, "I'll be… going home now," she said as she stood up and stacked a dozen files on an already tipsy pile. She wanted to ask about Lindsey but felt awkward. Grissom smiled at her.

"I'll be here if you need anything," he said. Catherine left, and discreetly looked for her daughter on her way out. In the parking lot, she spotted Lindsey sitting with Nick on a curb. She wanted to go over to them, but decided not to, then decided to. But at that moment, Sara pulled up with Rachel in tow, which attracted Lindsey's attention towards them. Catherine unlocked her Denali and sat in the driver's seat observing. Any moment to strike conversation with her daughter or her coworkers had been spent.

Lindsey ran over to Rachel and hugged her hard. A moment passed, and they were silent. Lindsey was truly gleeful to see her friend safe. Sara handed Nick the envelope containing the photos, and they watched Lindsey whisper something solemn, probably about what she had said about her to the police. Catherine couldn't stand just watching anymore and came out. Lindsey looked a bit frightened, and Rachel was apprehensive about Catherine after she undoubtedly found out swamps about her that Rachel had been specifically hiding.

"Hey Cath," Nick said, coming over to break up the fight that hadn't started. They started conversing inaudibly.

"Rachel, I'll be just a second," Sara said, indicating she was going to deliver the pictures and et cetera to the lab before returning shortly. Rachel nodded.

"Did you write your exam yet?" Rachel asked Lindsey. The little girl nodded, smiling fiendishly.

"94!" She squealed. Rachel congratulated her. Catherine and Nick approached the girls. Lindsey expected a lecture.

"I'm not sorry about what I said, mom. I hate secrets because they hurt, and if it hurt you… what I said… then…" Lindsey tried to continue before her mom would say something, to no avail.

"I'm sorry I yelled, honey…" She started, but didn't know what else to say.

"Miss Willows?" Rachel said after a long pause, surprising Catherine. "…Sometimes," she said, watching Sara talking to someone inside. "Sometimes… the things we don't want to talk about are the most important for us to say." She said with a smile. Sara came back outside to fetch her, so she turned and headed inside leaving Nick and Catherine slightly stunned, until Lindsey leaned up against her mom lovingly and put an arm around her.